The Brooklyn Nets have tried many times to skip the line and crash into the NBA penthouse. Another Nets experiment sounds more apt. The Brooklyn version has always felt like one.
The move in from New Jersey felt like a team trying to become a landmark NBA franchise in an instant. It isn't really possible, but the Nets thought it was. Even if every Brooklyn Dodgers fan is dead, maybe it was a ploy to take advantage of whatever leftover nostalgia there was for the Dodgers. Trying to cash in on the nouveau riche status of Brooklyn, which is in opposition to the whole Dodgers thing. The Nets have tried everything that doesn't work together, clawing at a few achieve and most don't deserve.
Thanks to the Knicks, there was an opening in NYC. The Knicks are one of the league's few landmark teams. The Knicks have tried harder and better than anyone, so it's not a mark you can just wash off. The Nets made all the trades and signings the Knicks said they would not. Neither ploy worked very well.
Remember when it was Kevin and Paul? They were too old or hurt to see anything beyond the second round. The current experiment was first Harden, and then some dude who no one can find, put into the tank, door locked, and everything shaken to see what will come out. I haven't seen a conference final or a team that felt cohesive. It was very good. Talented, but also oozing.
It's pretty apt for Brooklyn as a whole, saying and feeling like you're part of everything New York has to offer. The Brooklyn staple of a guy who is only too happy to tell you everything he knows about anything, when it turns out he doesn't know anything about everything, is in this Nets experiment.
It is not possible to become a signature name in the game by simply saying you are now. This is where the Heat warped everyone's mind by grouping them together, but afterwards they were more than comfortable to return to the Heat way and culture. It was the exception and not the rule.
You can be a dynasty without being a member of the long-term glitterati. The Nets have always been after more.
Whatever shiny thing was out there, whatever splash there was to be made, the Nets have done it with an air of desperation to be taken seriously. Even though he would miss a full season, all of his successes have come on teams that would have won without him. It was swinging for Harden and then moving on from him at the first sign of trouble. Steve Nash was hired as a coach because it sounded like something.
You can skip the line and still be who you are. The bouncer still looks at the Nets blankly when they try to get you into the club, despite the fact that the Nets know the DJ and the owner. It's not possible to just move in from Jersey and claim you're the center of the Earth, as half of the state's residents do.
You are the Jets or Mets all the way. Nets even rhyme. You're second class, you're the stepchild, and you're the other. The other two have made that part of their identity. The Nets are in denial. The Islanders took a swing at this, and quickly realized where that road led and went back to where they belonged. The idea was the right one. You can be happy with the 10,000 A.J. Sopranos that come to your games.
The Nets have been trying to get on dad's suit for 10 years. It isn't going to fit. Not being a dad is fine. They will run this back again next year, and they will ask Steve Nash what his Plan B is, and his facial expression will be. We'll be here again. Nets, it's not what you are.
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